UPCOMING READS: The retold power of myth in Ithaca by Claire North

(courtesy Hachette Book Group)

SNAPSHOT
This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before. Beyond Ithaca’s shores, the whims of gods dictate the wars of men. But on the isle, it is the choices of the abandoned women—and their goddesses—that will change the course of the world.

Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca. None of them has returned, and the women of Ithaca have been left behind to run the kingdom.

Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. While he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that her husband is dead, and suitors are beginning to knock at her door.

No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus’ empty throne—not yet. But everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, and Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war. Only through cunning, wit, and her trusted circle of maids, can she maintain the tenuous peace needed for the kingdom to survive.

From the multi-award winning author Claire North comes a daring, powerful, and moving tale that breathes new life into ancient myth, and tells of the women who stand defiant in a world ruled by ruthless men. It’s time for the women of Ithaca to tell their story … (synopsis courtesy Hachette Book Group)

Claire North is one of those writers who is so adaptably talented and who has such mastery of her work no matter which genre in which she writes, that you will automatically pick up her newest book without asking, knowing it will be a good read.

Through book after book – The Sudden Appearance of Hope (2016), The End of the Day (2017), 84K (2018), The Pursuit of William Abbey (2019) and Notes From the Burning Age (2021) – North has delighted and enthralled with richly imaginative narratives, clever underpinning ideas, a poetic grasp of language that is also emotionally accessible, and characters so vividly drawn you keep expecting them to step off the page to converse with you directly.

She is astoundingly, brilliantly good.

With another book in the offing, Ithaca which releases 6 September this year, we are going to be able to once again happily lose ourselves in another North masterwork, and escape into what will undoubtedly a highly original take on an age-old tale.

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